The Red Trailer Mystery

very afternoon."
    "Why, what do you mean?" Honey demanded. "We found his hiding place. The loft in the old barn."
    Trixie shook her head. "He may have hidden there one night, but he won’t come back. That barn will be sealed as tight as a drum in a few minutes. All that stolen stuff is important evidence. Anyway, I keep having a feeling Jim is camping out in the woods somewhere."
    Impatient to start searching, she raced ahead of Honey through the trailer park and yanked open the Swan door. Miss Trask was calmly reading a book and did not look as though she had worried about them at all.
    "What luck?" she asked with a smile. "I guessed that you got caught in the rain and had to stay at Rushkill Farms until it was over. No word of Jim?"
    "No," Trixie said and was surprised to see by the clock on the radio that it was only two thirty. "We want to explore the woods some more. Can we do anything for you before we go?"
    "I’m very comfortable, thanks," Miss Trask told her. "And my hand hardly hurts at all. I’m sure I can drive by day after tomorrow. I’m sorry Jim wasn’t at any of the camps. Perhaps we ought to put through a long-distance call tonight to Mr. Rainsford. I think he should put private detectives on the case right away." Honey, who had joined Trixie at the Swan entrance, pleaded, "Oh, no, let’s wait one more day. If we haven’t found Jim by tomorrow night, we can call Mr. Rainsford."
    "Very well," her governess agreed. "Run along, then, and have fun."
    The girls hurried down the Autoville driveway to the main road.
    "We saw those blue jeans about half a mile from here," Trixie said. "For some reason that trail to Pine Hollow camp isn’t shown on the map. The one we took from the academy wound all around the countryside."
    "All bridle trails do that," Honey replied. "The idea is to get a lot of riding in, not to travel along the shortest distance between two points."
    "It doesn’t matter," Trixie said. "We’ve had a lot of fun, but now we can’t waste any more time."
    They trudged along in silence until they came to the spot where the tracks had ended at the macadam road.
    "Why, this isn’t a bridle path at all!" Honey gasped. "It’s a back road leading to Pine Hollow camp."
    "I remember now," Trixie said thoughtfully. "We said at the time that nobody could have ridden a bike along the other trail. No wonder this road doesn’t ‘ show on the map. It’s probably only used by trucks bringing supplies to the camp. As a matter of fact, it’s a private delivery driveway, I guess."
    "That’s the answer," Honey agreed as they started up the rutted road. "Shall we cut through the woods or try to find a path?"
    "Let’s go around the bend and see if—" Trixie stopped as she caught a glimpse of the road beyond the bend. "Why, there’s a car parked up ahead of us. Do you hear the motor running?"
    "Uh-huh," Honey panted as she hurried behind Trixie. "It’s gasping and choking as though it’s almost out of gas."
    Trixie rounded the bend first. "It’s a sedan," she cried. "And all the windows are tightly shut. Who would close up his car and go off leaving the motor running?"
    "Oh, Trixie!" Honey gasped. "There’s a man in there, slumped over the wheel!"
    And then Trixie remembered something she had forgotten in the exciting events at the old barn, something Jeff had said accusingly to Al: "What about the guy you slugged and left in a closed car with the motor running? When he gets a lungful of carbon monoxide, he ain’t going to be too healthy."
    Trixie was already tugging at one of the sedan’s door handles, shouting directions to Honey. "Quick! Open up the other side. Break the glass with a rock if the door’s locked. This is the man who owns the last trailer Jeff and Al stole!"

Hair Ribbons and Pigtails • 14

    TRIXIE YANKED open the door of the car and reached in to turn off the ignition. Frantically she tried to remember everything she knew about gas poisoning. If the victim had stopped breathing, she knew artificial respiration must be started at once. But how could she and Honey drag this unconscious man out from behind the wheel?
    How long had he been shut up in that closed car with the motor running? Since noon? No, Al had said he only wanted the man to stay asleep until they could move the van to the barn. So he must have turned on the ignition and closed the car doors after they discovered the flat tire. How much deadly carbon monoxide had come through the floorboards?
    Trixie